For a stretch there in the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Hugh Grant was the Hollywood heartthrob. Over the course of just 10 or so years, Grant starred in some of the most beloved rom-coms of the past few decades, including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones’s Diary. However, it turns out that Grant holds one of his former rom-com roles in particularly low esteem.
The actor revealed as much in a recent Vanity Fair video discussing his career. Whilst looking back at his performance as William Thatcher in 1999’s Notting Hill, Grant confessed, “Whenever I’m flicking the channels at home after a few drinks and this comes up, I just think, ‘Why doesn’t my character have any balls?’” He went on to spotlight the scene in which his character stands by and lets his love interest, a famous Hollywood actress named Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), be photographed in his apartment by a crowd of paparazzi.
“There’s a scene in this film where she’s in my house and the paps come to the front door and ring the bell and I think I just let her go past me and open the door,” Grant recalled. “That’s awful.”
Notting Hill, which was written by frequent Grant collaborator Richard Curtis, is widely regarded as one of the actor’s most beloved and iconic films. In it, he stars as an everyday book store owner who serendipitously catches both the attention and affection of the world’s most famous actress (played fittingly by a radiant Roberts). The moment Grant describes above is one of several instances in which their already difficult romance is pushed almost past the point of no return.
According to Grant, he’s received quite a lot of flack over the years for his character’s inability to warn his paparazzi-hounded partner. “I’ve never had a girlfriend, or indeed now wife, who hasn’t said, ‘Why the hell didn’t you stop her? What’s wrong with you?’” the actor told Vanity Fair. “And I don’t really have an answer to that — it’s how it was written. And I think he’s despicable, really.”
Notting Hill is streaming now on Peacock.